Tuesday, October 01, 2013
The Sky This Week - Thursday October 3 to Thursday October 10
The New Moon is Saturday October 5. Mars and Jupiter are
prominent in the early morning. Venus is easily visible in the western
evening
sky with Saturn below . Mercury rises higher in the evening sky and is close to Saturn on the 7th. The Moon is near the pair of Mercury and Saturn on the 7th and close to Venus on the 8th. Comet C/2012 S1 ISON visible in
telescopes.
The New Moon is Saturday October 5.
Evening
sky looking west as seen from Adelaide at 20:00 pm local daylight saving time on Monday October 7. Venus is quite high in the evening sky above Saturn and Mercury, with the Moon just above the pair. The inset shows the telescopic
view of Venus at this time. Similar
views will be seen elsewhere at the
equivalent local times. Click to
embiggen.
Venus climbs higher in the evening twilight. It can easily be seen 20 minutes after sunset (indeed, with a little effort you can see it before sunset). The brightest (spectacularly so) object above the western horizon it is visible up to two hours or more after sunset (depending on how flat your western horizon is).
Venus enters the head of the Scorpion. It is a distinct gibbous shape in even small telescopes
Mercury is now easily visible in the evening twilight. Mercury climbs higher in the evening sky this week heading heading for Saturn. The pair are close on the 7th. Mercury is highest in the sky on the 9th, and will return towards the horizon after this.
Saturn is still easily visible above the western horizon in the early evening in the constellation of Virgo and is visited by Mercury. Telescopic views of the ringed world are progressively harder as the planet gets lower in the sky and deeper in the twilight. Saturn sets around 8:30 pm local time.
Neptune is just past opposition, and visible in strong binoculars. Location maps here which can be used in conjunction with the printable PDF maps below. My images with a little point and shoot camera here.
Morning sky on Tuesday October 8 looking north-east as seen from Adelaide
at 5:30 am local daylight saving time in South Australia. Mars, Jupiter, and Procyon form a long triangle in the morning sky.
Jupiter is close to the star Wassat. The crescent Moon is close to Mars. Comet C/2012 S1 ISON is below Mars, and visible in high end amateur telescopes. The inset shows the view of Jupiter through a telescope at this time. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).
Mars, Jupiter and the bright star Procyon start the week forming a triangle in the morning twilight. Jupiter is in the constellation Gemini. Mars is passing through the constellation Cancer and enters The constellation of Leo.
Mars rises still higher in the morning twilight, and is visible before the sky pales substantially. The crescent Moon is close to Mars on October 1. Mars comes closer to the bright star Regulus and is less than 4 degrees away by the end of the week.
Jupiter is now well above the north-eastern horizon, above and well to to the left of Mars. It is quite easy to see in the morning sky well into the twilight. During the week Jupiter rises higher and comes close to the moderately bright star Wassat. Jupiter's Moons are now readily visible in binoculars.
Comet C/2012 S1 ISON is expected to become very bright in late November Early December. Currently it is visible in modest amateur instruments such as 12" reflecting telescopes. While the comet will be around magnitude 10 at the beginning of October and around 8.6-9 mid October, it is never very high at Astronomical twilight (5 and 7 degrees above the horizon in most of Australia). The horizon murk means that that it will be mid October before the comet is visible in smaller telescopes such as 4" reflectors and late October for strong binoculars.
The comet is just below and to the left of Mars (one degree and 53 arc seconds), making finding it relatively easy. Comet ISON is closest to Mars on October 1, but the orbital geometry means that from Earth it will appear closest on the 15th.
There are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. Especially with Venus so prominent in the sky. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
The New Moon is Saturday October 5.
Venus climbs higher in the evening twilight. It can easily be seen 20 minutes after sunset (indeed, with a little effort you can see it before sunset). The brightest (spectacularly so) object above the western horizon it is visible up to two hours or more after sunset (depending on how flat your western horizon is).
Venus enters the head of the Scorpion. It is a distinct gibbous shape in even small telescopes
Mercury is now easily visible in the evening twilight. Mercury climbs higher in the evening sky this week heading heading for Saturn. The pair are close on the 7th. Mercury is highest in the sky on the 9th, and will return towards the horizon after this.
Saturn is still easily visible above the western horizon in the early evening in the constellation of Virgo and is visited by Mercury. Telescopic views of the ringed world are progressively harder as the planet gets lower in the sky and deeper in the twilight. Saturn sets around 8:30 pm local time.
Neptune is just past opposition, and visible in strong binoculars. Location maps here which can be used in conjunction with the printable PDF maps below. My images with a little point and shoot camera here.
Jupiter is close to the star Wassat. The crescent Moon is close to Mars. Comet C/2012 S1 ISON is below Mars, and visible in high end amateur telescopes. The inset shows the view of Jupiter through a telescope at this time. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).
Mars, Jupiter and the bright star Procyon start the week forming a triangle in the morning twilight. Jupiter is in the constellation Gemini. Mars is passing through the constellation Cancer and enters The constellation of Leo.
Mars rises still higher in the morning twilight, and is visible before the sky pales substantially. The crescent Moon is close to Mars on October 1. Mars comes closer to the bright star Regulus and is less than 4 degrees away by the end of the week.
Jupiter is now well above the north-eastern horizon, above and well to to the left of Mars. It is quite easy to see in the morning sky well into the twilight. During the week Jupiter rises higher and comes close to the moderately bright star Wassat. Jupiter's Moons are now readily visible in binoculars.
Comet C/2012 S1 ISON is expected to become very bright in late November Early December. Currently it is visible in modest amateur instruments such as 12" reflecting telescopes. While the comet will be around magnitude 10 at the beginning of October and around 8.6-9 mid October, it is never very high at Astronomical twilight (5 and 7 degrees above the horizon in most of Australia). The horizon murk means that that it will be mid October before the comet is visible in smaller telescopes such as 4" reflectors and late October for strong binoculars.
The comet is just below and to the left of Mars (one degree and 53 arc seconds), making finding it relatively easy. Comet ISON is closest to Mars on October 1, but the orbital geometry means that from Earth it will appear closest on the 15th.
There are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. Especially with Venus so prominent in the sky. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Labels: weekly sky
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 6:25 pm 
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
